Facility to house 300 companies
The 64-storey Almas Tower (Almas in Arabic means diamond) has been completed and was launched last week. The exchange is soon expected to begin operating from its office at the Almas Tower, where already 300 international and regional companies have purchased space in the building and are expected to occupy it within a few months.
The facility, dedicated to the diamond trade, sits on an island in the centre of a dynamic waterfront community of residential an office towers, hotels and retail outlets.
"With the completion of this project, we are setting new and higher targets for the diamond trade in the UAE, and this will be accomplished in a cost efficient manner, " DMCC chairman Ahmed bin Sulayem told The Business Weekly.
DDE is an initiative of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC). DMCC Free Zone clusters all aspects of the precious commodities trade, from gold refining to jewellery manufacture and international diamond trade.
Almas Tower will be an enclosed facility housing the DDE, diamond companies and a full range of service companies including banking, security, shipping, boiling, grading and even governmental services such as immigration.
DDE is set to become the cornerstone of diamond trade in this region. "When DMCC was launched five years ago the trade in diamonds was well below $1 billion, today it is worth $9 billion, an increase of over 900 per cent," Sulayem said.
"We were able to do this because of carefully looking at opportunities and at the same time implementing the highest international practices," he added.
Today the Middle East is the third largest market for diamond jewellery in the world. Together with China and India, this part of the world is registering double-digit growth numbers year after year. "It is becoming clear that the future of the world trade is moving east rather than the West and the new DDE will serve as the premier market interface for companies that want to do business here," Sulayem said.
With the opening of the Almas Tower a new concept of servicing the diamond trade has developed, Yuri Steverlynck, CEO, DDE said.
"For the first time in the history, jewellery manufacturers and retailers from the Gulf will have direct access to the international diamond market. Retailers will not have to travel overseas for supplies. The same quality and quantity of diamonds will be available within the Middle East, offering supply in a much more cost and time efficient way," he added.
The aim of DDE is become a gateway for diamond trade in the rapidly growing region. "What New York is to the US, what London is to Europe, what Hong Kong is to China, and what Mumbai is to India, we expect Dubai to become the same for the UAE," Steverlynck said.
The DDE oversees the Kimberly Process Office in the UAE, ensuring that the traded diamonds have been mined legitimately. It issued 646 KP certificates in the third quarter of 2007.
Vinod Kumar PK
© The Business Weekly 2007
